Newly published by TAN, The Life of Sr. Mary Wilhelmina
tells the story of the indomitable founder of the traditional Benedictine Sisters of Mary,
whose body was found apparently incorrupt in May of 2023.
The First Call
An early vocation at the age of 17, Mary Elizabeth Lancaster was a descendant of black slaves from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. Faced with very few choices in terms of religious life due to her skin color, she joined the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a black order, in 1941. She spent nearly fifty years in the order as a schoolteacher, comically referring to them as “a kaleidoscope of good days and bad days that I was constantly praying to be delivered from.”
The Second Call
Incredibly, at the age of seventy, this spunky sister packed her bags and set off to found a new order in 1995. Distressed by the loosening of standards, social upheaval in the Church and what she viewed as “misrepresentation of the documents of Vatican II,” Sister Wilhelmina began the Benedictine Sisters of Mary, Queen of the Apostles, with the help of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter.
She had written to the Fraternity a year earlier: “Although I have been professed fifty years as an Oblate Sister of Providence, I am ready to begin anew serving Mother Church…”
For the Benedictines of Mary, Mass would be the center of their spirituality. The nuns attend daily Mass in Latin (i.e. the Extraordinary Form) in accord with Pope Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum. There is also a special reverence for the holy priesthood, and daily chanting of the Divine Office, which is the official prayer of the Church.
Words of Faith
One of this book’s shining merits is Sister Mary Wilhelmina’s poetry throughout. As I read through the lines, aspects of her personality and charism made themselves manifest. Her deep love for God:
For He is All and we are naught
Him only we adore.
No greater good can e’er be sought;
Let’s love Him more and more!
Her humor, when admonished to eat to keep strength up as her health declined:
For love of God, I eat this snack,
Although I’m old and dumb and black.
Her faith and optimism:
I never tired of loving God
Although I’m surely dying;
Now that I’m nearly under sod
It’s home to heav’n I’m flying.
In her journals, tenacity shines through:
Perseverance in faith, hope and charity is important, and we must pray continually,
asking for the salvation that Christ has won for us. Never, on this side of the grave,
can we relax and say “I need not fight any more.”
Faith and the Color of Your Skin
Sister was well aware of the racial tensions in society, but viewed it all through a spiritual lens as a free daughter of God.
Paying a visit to her old order 2003 was both heartwarming and heart-wrenching for Sister Wilhelmina. Staunchly opposed to what she saw as an inordinate focus on race and racial politics in the church and in society, she was uncowed when a fellow oblate declared, “You’re Black first and Catholic second.” Sister’s decisive reply echoed what she had already told the Pope: “To be black is nothing. To be Catholic is everything!”
And she asked this very insightful question about their priorities: “What are Oblates witnessing? Is it wonderful blackness? Or the wonders of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, True God and True Man Who said, “Without Me, you can do nothing.” Oblates like to sing “We’ve come this far by faith.” This faith is in whom? And in what?”
Like many well-meaning “causes” in this vale of tears, racial politics can become an idol to replace God.
And when skin color turns into an obsession, it can “get ugly” (to use a Southern expression), blurring our perception not just of self, but of our brothers and sisters. When race is our primary means of identifying as a child of God, it can be a hindrance to true humility and holiness. My personal experience of being a minority of literally one throughout my school years in Mississippi bears this out.
As Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection once wrote “Adoring God in truth means recognizing Him for what He is and recognizing ourselves for what we are.”
As a very learned woman, Sister knew well the struggles and oppression of many races and peoples over the centuries, but she knew that the answer was not a cultural revolution which sought to overthrow the moral order: “Is there no other freedom for the Black man than the freedom which the devil offers? Freedom without God; freedom without integral family life; freedom without private ownership of property; freedom without freedom!”
Freedom to Serve
Sister found her freedom in loving God and serving him in Missouri with the traditional order she founded. God has rewarded these faithful sisters, increasing their number, elevating their priory into an abbey, and bringing about the creation of a sister house in Ava, Missouri. Although Sister Wilhelmina passed away in 2019, her faith and devotion and many writings continue to sustain the community as it continues its mission on Earth.
Among God’s many favors, the divine intervention that probably turned the most heads was the discovery of Sister Wilhelmina’s apparently incorrupt body in May of 2023, four years after burial, when it was exhumed for reinterment due to water damage. Jack Klein, owner of Hixson-Klein Funeral Home in Gower and issuer of her death certificate, confirmed Sister had not been embalmed and was contained only in a wooden coffin.
And her fellow sisters couldn’t help but further notice that the habit (i.e. the clothing worn by a religious) was in near-perfect condition. Sticking with the traditional black habit her whole life was very dear to Sister’s heart, even thought it put her at odds with progressives, and the Benedictines of Mary suppose that God preserved it as a reward for her faithfulness. The current Mother Abbess Cecelia said, “We think she is the first African American woman to be found incorrupt.”
My family has visited the Benedictines of Mary several times over the years; our plan is to visit again in 2024 to see the new burial site. Sister Wilhelmina’s body is now installed in a glass box in the abbey church. Thousands of pilgrims from all over the country have visited since May of 2023!
You can learn more about the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles here, and purchase this wonderful biography from TAN at 15% off when you sign up for their newsletter. Besides poetry, Sister Wilhelmina was very musical and that tradition lives on as her sisters have produced many beautiful CD’s (four have topped the Billboard Classical chart)!
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